Zach Zaidman on the SCORE said something interesting tonight when talking about the defense. I'm paraphrasing, but he said, "A major problem with the defense, the way I saw it being in the locker room, there were far too many "Me's" and not enough team guys. Too many guys were worried about putting up big stats so they could get paid. There was the hang-over from the Super Bowl and other guys had just gotten paid."

 

I thought this was interesting as hell. Previously we've just assumed the defensive woes were a combination of injuries, having a new OC, and playing a more difficult schedule. This sounds like there are more chemistry issues and conflict within the team.

 

Zaidman did not elaborate as to what he meant about this so you can interpret it to mean whatever you want.

I believe it. It's professional sports.

Well I think the only people who were thinking about getting paid were Briggs and Harris. Now you would have to go back and watch the tape to see if they weren't staying in their gaps or what not to try and make a big play on their own. I don't know, but I don't remember it being discussed much last year.

 

I think the biggest key was injuries. Vasher, Harris, Urlacher, Brown, Archuleta, Briggs, Dvorcek, Anderson, Tillman, Walker, Adams...am I missing any? All missed time or played hurt. Two players that missed the most time, Vasher and Brown, are absolutely vital to the success of this defense.

Hell yes it was a factor. Not to say it was the only factor, or even the greatest, but I would say there is no doubt it was a factor.

 

Briggs - Well known issues in the offseason, and w/ the deal in place, he knew it was finally his contract year. Wins are nice, but unless he puts up the big stats, he won't get paid.

 

Harris - He said some time back he believed he should be one of, if not the, highest paid defensive player in the game. Now that is some ego. IMHO, when a player makes a statement like that, he is thinking far too much about money (and stats equal money in this game) and not enough about the game itself. All players deal w/ the business side, but how many say they should be the highest paid.

 

Alex Brown - Long time starter who was upset in camp about losing his starting job. He was vocal about it, and asked to be traded, while also asking for a pay raise. Not saying he was necessarily a trouble maker, but this was likely yet another sign of chemistry issues.

 

The secondary was all about injuries, but at the same time, I would argue that if our front 7 played better, the issues in the secondary may not have been so obvious.

I'm sure egos got in the way... They are always in the way to some degree. I think even more so for a team that went to the SB. And they probalby all thought they were "all that" still after losing it.

 

I've got to think Briggs and Harris, as many have mentioned, were parties to that. Also, could be Alex Brown. But, hopefully they all can put it past them and realize that the greater good is to win a SB...

 

Zach Zaidman on the SCORE said something interesting tonight when talking about the defense. I'm paraphrasing, but he said, "A major problem with the defense, the way I saw it being in the locker room, there were far too many "Me's" and not enough team guys. Too many guys were worried about putting up big stats so they could get paid. There was the hang-over from the Super Bowl and other guys had just gotten paid."

 

I thought this was interesting as hell. Previously we've just assumed the defensive woes were a combination of injuries, having a new OC, and playing a more difficult schedule. This sounds like there are more chemistry issues and conflict within the team.

 

Zaidman did not elaborate as to what he meant about this so you can interpret it to mean whatever you want.

I disagree. The defense was pretty dam good until the 2nd half of the dallas game. We killed SD on defense and Dallas until we lost briggs, vasher, and harris.

The downward spiral happened when Mike Borwn got injured... I was at the game. You could literally see the team's energy drop from that point on.

 

I disagree. The defense was pretty dam good until the 2nd half of the dallas game. We killed SD on defense and Dallas until we lost briggs, vasher, and harris.

I disagree. The defense was pretty dam good until the 2nd half of the dallas game. We killed SD on defense and Dallas until we lost briggs, vasher, and harris.

 

The Dallas game was the 3rd of the season. So you mean for the first 2.5 games you could tell it wasn't an issue?